


A Strange Encounter

by afteriwake



Category: Sherlock (TV), Warehouse 13
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-19
Updated: 2013-03-19
Packaged: 2017-12-05 20:24:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/727564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A very young Sherlock has inherited a collection of oddities from his Uncle Sebastian. But not all of the oddities are safe, and that is when he has his first encounter with an agent from the Warehouse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Strange Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> An answer to the sherlockmas prompt "Winter-related artifact. Sherlock finds it. Cue havoc. (Warehouse 13 crossover)." it's not a lot of havoc, but this is a young Sherlock. It could have been worse. Also, the small snow globe mentioned in the story is the same one Claudia uses to make her drinks cold in the show.

When it involved trips to their eccentric uncle’s home, Sherlock was always eager to go. Mycroft was older, and the appeal of the strange stories and even stranger collections that their uncle had had lost their appeal for the older boy, but Sherlock was still fascinated by everything there. He’d always ask to take something home, and while most of the time his Uncle Sebastian wouldn’t let him, every once in a while one or two things would come home with him, and he’d play with them in wonder and delight until the next visit, when he would take it back in the hopes of getting something new.

Sherlock was eight when his uncle died, and that marked a turning point in his youth. This was not the first relative he had had die on him, but it was the first he cared for, and as he sat through the funeral he found himself sad. His parents had talked with him at length when they told him of his uncle’s death, and he understood it, being an intelligent child, but he didn’t understand all the emotions that rose to the surface during the service.

It was afterwards that he was told he needed to be there for the reading of the will. He was surprised by that. Why would he need to be there? He was only eight. But he dutifully sat with the adults and Mycroft as the stuffy lawyer read the will. Finally he got to the end. “And to my favorite nephew Sherlock,” the lawyer read, “I leave my collection of oddities. He is allowed to keep any he wants, and the rest should be donated or kept for him when he’s older.”

Sherlock’s eyes widened slightly. His uncle was going to let him keep things from his collection, the things he had loved most about his uncle’s home? This was news indeed. He already had a list forming in his head of old favorites he wanted to take home with him, but he knew there were things he hadn’t seen that he wanted to check out. But his family was at his uncle’s home until the end of the week, so that gave him five days to go through everything.

He spent the next day getting all his favorite things and putting them in the boxes his parents had found. They did not tell him he had a limit, but he knew he only had so much space to hold things, and these were all things he wanted to put on display in his room. He’d filled three boxes when he got to the final part of the study. He saw his uncle had an extensive snow globe collection, all of them not being your typical snow globes, his uncle had said. There were only two that fascinated him.

One had a mechanical version of London inside. It was a bit larger than the rest, and he’d always enjoyed looking at it. The other was a simple snow globe, but he had seen that it produced an icy shower when shaken. His uncle had only shown it to him once, but he had been fascinated. That was one of the treasures his uncle had never allowed him to take home. He shook the larger snow globe and was surprised when the temperature in the room went down. He looked outside and saw it was snowing in London. It was the middle of June, and as soon as he stopped shaking the snow globe the snow outside stopped as well.

“Curious,” he said. He shook the larger snow globe again, this time much harder, and the snow coming down outside the study window fell much harder. Sherlock was fascinated by it. He was causing this snowstorm in the middle of the summer, and all with a simple snow globe. This was a powerful thing. Maybe he shouldn’t play with it. He set the larger snow globe down again and watched as it settled while glancing at the window to see the snow outside lessen. He wasn’t sure he wanted the snow globe any more. What if someone else shook it? What if someone else discovered the secret? Then London would be in trouble. 

There was a knock at the door, and he turned to see a man standing there. He looked like one of the people who had been hovering at the funeral, but he didn’t know his name. “Are you Sherlock?” the man asked. He had an American accent, and while this wasn’t unusual it was something Sherlock wasn’t used to hearing. Sherlock nodded slightly. “I’m a friend of your Uncle Sebastian. I was hoping I might find you here.”

“Why?” Sherlock asked, picking up the smaller snow globe.

“I collect snow globes. Unusual ones. Your uncle and I had been talking about my getting two of these. The two that make things cold.” Sherlock’s eyes widened. If he knew about them, then he must have talked to his uncle in the past. “I see you had a small snowstorm outside earlier. You know how dangerous that one can be.”

“Yes,” he said with a nod. “Someone could find it and blanket the city in snow.”

“Your uncle was afraid someone might do just that,” the man said. “I was going to take it somewhere safe. A big warehouse, where no one can use it that way.”

“Where?” Sherlock asked.

“Somewhere in America. It will be safe.” He came over to Sherlock and the snow globes. “May I?” Sherlock nodded. The man picked up the larger snow globe and put it in a large bag. There was a zap of electrical energy, and then the man smiled. “I need the smaller one as well.”

“Do you really?” Sherlock asked.

He nodded. “It’s not as dangerous, but your uncle wanted it safe as well.”

Sherlock sighed. “Very well. If that was what my uncle wanted, I suppose it’s all right.” He picked up the smaller snow globe and handed it to the man. The man pulled out another bag and put the snow globe into it. “Is that all?”

The man nodded. “Thank you for your understanding, Sherlock.”

“What’s your name?” Sherlock asked curiously. He was surprised he hadn’t asked earlier, but the whole encounter had surprised him.

“Artie,” the man said with a smile. “By the way, the other snow globe with the clockwork gears is fascinating. If you take one of them, you should take that one.” And with that, Artie left.

Sherlock looked at the globes, then saw the one Artie had mentioned. He turned the gear in the back and saw the figures inside the snow globe begin to move. It wasn’t as fascinating as the one that made things cold or the one that caused it to snow in London, but it was a nice memento. But Sherlock knew he would always wonder what happened to the other snow globes, and he knew he would always be on the lookout for the mysterious Artie. He knew that at the core of his being, just as he knew he had done the smart thing today in turning them over to someone who could keep them safe…he hoped.


End file.
